Guide to Naval Units

Naval forceshave played deciding roles in many battles over the years in the major wars of societies. Many times a massive army, millions of men and artillery cannot be used because they would be defeated by a navy. In this guide, we will take a look at how to use the various naval units and tactics in Call of War.

Types of Ships

Submarine- Probably the best naval unit in Call of war, the submarine is cheap, fast and easy to build, taking only a lvl 1 port and an IC. It's very good against battleships and transports. A submarine will usually defeat a destroyer in a 1v1 as long as it attacks first. However, the submarine is quite poor against cruiser, stacked destroyers and aircraft carriers. Naval bombers are also deadly to a sub. Submarines are hidden from view unless they are flown over by a naval bomber or are fighting another unit.

Destroyer-A small, quick little ship, this ship is excellent against submarines and transports. As with the submarine, it takes only an IC and a lvl 1 port. The destroyer has most of the strengths of a submarine, but it is not hidden, is a bit slower and costs a lot more to build. However, it can bombard transports from 20 k/m without taking damage to itself. It also has more AA firepower.

Cruiser- The next step up in the naval lines comes the cruiser, the "middle of the road" ship. This ship is fairly fast, has good firepower against naval units, resistant against subs and does a little damage to troops on the ground. But it truly excels in anti-aircraft, having the strongest defense amongst all the ships. However, a cruiser is no match for a battleship or aircraft carrier. It also costs a lot more to build than a destroyer or submarine, taking a level 2 port and IC.

Battleship- The king of the sea, the battleship lobs shells over 80 k/m, doing devastating damage to naval units and troops on the shore. Properly escorted, the battleship will deal immense damage. However, battleships don't stand a chance against submarines or naval bombers. The battleship is quite a bit slower than the rest of the ships, and it costs a fortune to build and research, using a lvl 3 port and IC.

Aircraft Carriers- The modern king of the sea, the aircraft is truly the ruling class. They are fast ships, able to keep up with the smaller escort ships. The carrier has amazing defense against subs and small ships. However, they will not survive a bombardment from a battleship or cruiser. It requires it's planes to protect it. The aircraft carrier will carry interceptors, naval bombers, and tactical bombers at or above level 4. These are less expensive to build than a battleship, but still take a level 3 port and IC.
Nuclear Ships

While these ships have been removed in 1.5, I will still explain them here. All nuclear ships take a nuclear reactor, an IC and a level 3 port to build one. (With the exception of the submarine, that takes a level 2 port.) They are ridiculously expensive to build, and it takes a long time to get to their research. It requires a level 5 reactor, high level research of conventional ships, and their own research levels.
Nuclear Battleship
An incredibly powerful ship, this will rule the waves, beating even elite battleships. It has a huge bombarding range, great damage, and a very quick pace. However, they do absolutely no damage to submarines, and must be escorted to prevent their loss. It will cost you a pretty penny to build one though.
Nuclear Submarine
Another great sub, this is much faster than the conventional subs. No real weaknesses, it can run from the strong and strike at the weak. They are most vulnerable to naval bombers. They are expensive though.

Nuclear Carrier
Actually the fastest naval unit, this carrier holds ten planes, the biggest carrier in the game.Excellent defense against everything, but never ever attack with it.

Using an aircraft carrier
One of the most commonly asked questions about naval units is, "How do I load airplanes onto a carrier?"
First, sail your carrier out of port. (Ships in port are protected from subs until they sail out for the first time.) Then, check the carriers stats to see how many planes you can load onto the carrier. Lastly, fly out your planes from an airbase in range of the carrier, and and them on the carrier.

Submarine Blockade
One of the tactics that Germany used to great effect in World War 1 and 2 was a submarine blocakde of Britian and the allies. A submarine blockade will alert you to incoming enemy movements, stop landing troops, and keep your coasts secure. To create a submarine blockade, you'll need to have a sizeable number of subs to cover your entire coast.

Place a submarine on each "dot" on the ocean to prevent any ships from slipping by. Now, you have to be smart about this. If you are Africa and have conquered Europe, you would not line the underside of Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey with subs. You would place 2-3 subs at the Gibraltar strait, and cover the entire expanse with only a few subs. Take a look around your maps to see where the "choke points" are. A good idea is to place one sub at each dot, and have a "quick response" team of 2-8 subs (or other naval units) in reserve for every 3-6 dots. The single submarine will hold incoming enemies until your larger force can arrive.
Escorting Transports and Planes
One of the best way to lose a map without fighting much is losing all your army at sea. Unescorted transports have less than 20% of their original health when at sea, at a measly 5HP each. The best way to try and prevent this is escorting your convoys with naval units.

Cruisers are a good choice, they provide protection against air, subs and destroyers. Submarines are always a wise decision. It's also not a bad idea to send ahead a submarine ahead to scout the route and see if any unpleasant surprises await along your planned route.

Plane transports, for some reason, cannot be escorted by naval units and must go by themselves unless loaded on a carrier. Carriers are good shuttles across the ocean, and they can protect your transports (and carrier) while at sea.
Stop and Drop
You see a large force of transports coming. You want to lose as few of your naval units as possible. So what do you do? You use the "stop and drop" tactic.

Have a submarine or submarine squadron stop the transports. While they are halted, bring up your ranged naval units and bombard them without taking any damage to your bigger ships.
Bombarding Land Units
Sometimes, you can bombard land units from cruisers and battleships, to soften up a landing or clear out a coastal city. Battleships work best for this, because they have a longer range and can do more damage to infantry and armor. While destroyers look like they can bombard the shore, they do no damage to land units, only naval units.

Thanks for reading this guide, I hope it helps you. If you have any questions or comments, please PM me or leave them below.

General Nightman

Retired Hero"War is fought in three ways. Helping your enemy to lose, helping your allies to victory or helping yourself to win. Any way you take it, you are always helping someone."

Destroyers are not slower than subs of the same level. Give me a few destroyers and subs and the enemy sub blockade will be gone in no time.

Players that have HC can hide their subs from every type of detection except naval bombers by setting their fire control on passive. When in such fire mode every thing that floats will go right past them without engaging. But spies can at least reveal the subs at daychange and give you an idea of where to go hunting.

I found that sub owners cannot resist attacking unescorted troop convoys so send some "expendable" convoys out in front of your destroyers and watch the subs light up when they attack.

Ideally to clear blockades you would need aircraft carriers loaded with Naval Bombers combined with subs and destroyers.
Just be careful not to get too close to enemy air bases they might get upset and wipe out your NBs from shore, so find the sub with the NB then pull the planes back, run up to it with a sub, light it up again with the NB when your sub is in the enemies last known location (it should be visible as a ghost from the NB reveal) and lock it in melee with your own sub and then send in the destroyers to finish it off. Don't use the NBs to fight except as a last resort you will need them full health to find the next sub and so on.

But if you can't afford the loaded carrier dangle a little "bait" in front of your destroyers and see what bites.

Hope this helps. Happy Hunting!

I believe destroyers have a SBDE of 7. Is there a bias against destroyers here? jking.

The post was edited 4 times, last by Ruy Diaz de Bivar: fixed letters, added a comment about destroyers. (Nov 16th 2019, 3:16pm).

A submarine will usually defeat a destroyer in a 1v1 as long as it attacks first

Really? I always thought of submarines being weak against destroyers, never able to stand a chance against them, so when I see a destroyer, I move my subs away. If that is true, what's the point of destroyers?

Thank you for reading the post. Have a great day!
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Boozo

A submarine will usually defeat a destroyer in a 1v1 as long as it attacks first

Really? I always thought of submarines being weak against destroyers, never able to stand a chance against them, so when I see a destroyer, I move my subs away. If that is true, what's the point of destroyers?

They are only a name. It is better to stack them and not to send them one on one. If you are not sure, you can go check each of the unit statistics.

Quick clarification:
I did go check in later to compare the stats of Submarines and Destroyers. And yes, you are right, that as long as your Submarine is attacking first, you can take the destroyer down. But I guess it all really comes down to what level it is. Like a level 5 Destroyer vs. a level 1 sub won't do so great.

A submarine will usually defeat a destroyer in a 1v1 as long as it attacks first

Really? I always thought of submarines being weak against destroyers, never able to stand a chance against them, so when I see a destroyer, I move my subs away. If that is true, what's the point of destroyers?

A destroyer is the main unit for killing subs, best achieved by using its ranged attack and normally faster speed to keep its distance, therefore not taking any damage in a melee attack.

I played the Pacific map and had a picket line of subs to warn me of approaching enemy ships. Once spotted I had them fall back until I could see if anything was coming in behind them, then concentrated them and attacked. Wolfpack tactics from WW2.